Press Clippings

August 02, 2004 - Berkshire Eagle: Hillies win in Hartford

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Pittsfield Hillies vintage baseball team challenged nemesis Hartford yesterday in a game played at Bushnell Park.

The Hillies received a vintage performance from Terry Bishop, who struck out eight in five innings and swatted a home run to lead the Hillies to a 9-5 win. Hartford had defeated Pittsfield in a game played at Wahconah Park on July 4.

Smaller crowd yesterday

That game was seen by some 5,000 fans and a national television audience. Saturday's game was watched by about 200.

Bishop also made a fine defensive play when he stabbed a line drive with his bare hand. Swelling in the hand forced team manager Paul Procopio to replace Bishop with Shawn Sottile.

The Hillies scored twice in the second when Jamie DiMassimo and Pat Ryan singled, both scoring on a double by Mike Bissaillon. The Hillies added a pair of tallies in the fourth on round-trippers by Shaun McMahon and Bishop. Bissaillion's sacrifice fly in the fifth plated Pat Ryan, who had doubled. That upped the lead to 5-0.

The hosts cut the lead to 5-3 in the sixth and after the Hillies scored one run on a Sottile homer, added two more to make the score 6-5.

The Hillies then scored three in the eighth. Tommy Rizzo had a two-run double and Darren Jefferson an RBI single that plated Rizzo. B.J. Jefferson worked a scoreless ninth to earn the save.

The decider in the best-of-three series will be Saturday, Sept. 4, at Wahconah Park at 2 p.m.